


first aid kit

by seoseouls (kihoseok)



Series: One shots bc im a lazy pos [5]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentioned Johnten, im sorry, mentioned dojae - Freeform, mentioned yusol, reaper au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 13:36:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11875620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihoseok/pseuds/seoseouls
Summary: In which Taeyong is a reaper and Sicheng dies.





	first aid kit

**Author's Note:**

> im so sorry for this fucking mess i love sicheng i swear
> 
> (P.S. listen to distant by sappheiros to improve the experience)

Sicheng looked around the room, a smile gracing his features as he looked at his friends. They lay sprawled out on couches and laughing under cheap dollar store decorations, a warm atmosphere filling the space they occupied. 

He sat with his friend, Yuta’s head in his lap, a hand carding through his soft hair as the foreigner recanted his latest date with his new boyfriend to Sicheng. Doyoung and Jaehyun sat nestled in the corner of Taeil’s living room, drinking and sharing small kisses between giggles. The others were outside, Ten and Johnny cuddling under the stars whilst Taeil taught Mark about various constellations hung in the sky. Sicheng felt content as he sat in the room surrounded by his friends. 

“Yah, Sichenggie,” Yuta said, prodding the Chinese boy in the stomach. “When are you finally gonna get laid?”

“Hyung!” Sicheng yelled back, covering his face with his hands as a blush crept up his cheeks.

“It’s a valid question!” Yuta shot back, grabbing Sicheng’s hands and lacing their fingers together. “I wanna know when my precious baby is going to find himself a man.”

“Why me? Why not Mark or Taeil?” He asked, trying to pry his hands-free of the Japanese man’s grip.

“They don’t count, Mark’s just a baby and Taeil is an old man.” Yuta scoffed, gripping Sicheng’s fingers tighter. 

“I’ll get one when I’m ready Hyung, can we let this go?” He asked, feeling about as red as Doyoung’s hair. 

“Fine,” Yuta huffed. “Just promise me when you do, he’ll be a decent guy.”

“I promise, Hyung.”

☾✧☽

It was about 11:00 pm when Sicheng began walking to his apartment from Taeil’s house, kindly declining a ride from Jaehyun and Doyoung, opting for the calm of the city streets and the chill of the breeze against his cheeks over third wheeling for the couple. 

The light of the neon signs graced his face as he walked through the darkened streets, walking past few passersby on his way. The quiet bustle of the city put him in an almost zen state, the lull of car engines and distant music from a club creating an oddly peaceful mix. He briefly closed his eyes, taking in all the sensations around him, smiling peacefully.

First mistake.

He turned into the narrow street leading to his apartment building, noticing a group of men on the sidewalk about twenty feet in front of him, but thought nothing of it as he walked.

Second mistake.

As he walked towards the men, they took no note of him. He smiled friendlily at one of the men who he made eye contact with, but it was not returned. Before he knew what was happening, he heard the screech of tires down the road and the roar of an engine. Thinking it was just some delinquent teens, he didn’t turn around.

Last mistake.

☾✧☽

\Sicheng awoke in a stiff chair, his bones stiff and his mind hazy. As he opened his eyes, he saw he was in what seemed to be a hospital waiting room, nurses in scrubs and doctors in long white coats bustling around the floor. A sense of confusion and panic washed over him, how had he gotten here? Why was he here? Why didn’t he remember anything? But just as panic began to overtake him, a voice sounded from next to him.

“Glad to see you’re awake.”

Sicheng turned to see a man dressed in a black shirt and jeans next to him, all piercing eyes and sharp lines. “Who are you?” He asked, his brow furrowing as his confusion only heightened.

“I’m Lee Taeyong, you’re dead.”

Silence filled the space between them for a moment before Sicheng began laughing hysterically, panic and a sense of disbelief gripping his heart like a vice. “What drugs are you on? I’m alive just like you.” He told Taeyong, fixing the man with an unbelieving stare. 

“Well, you’re right. You’re not dead yet, but you will be soon.” Taeyong responded, brushing his black hair out of his face as he turned to look at Sicheng. Fear filled the Chinese boy’s veins, freezing the blood within them. “I’m not threatening you, just stating facts. You’re here, in room 514. You will die at exactly 3:16 am, three hours from now. Major internal hemorrhaging, nothing can be done.” 

Sicheng looked at Taeyong again, searching for any sign of sarcasm or deceit in his expression, but all he was met with was a serious stare. For a second time that night, he broke into uncontrollable laughter. “I’m not going to die, this is some weird dream. I’m not really here, you’re not real.” He said, shaking his head. There was no way he was dying, no way this man knew he was dying. No way this was even possible.

“Sicheng,” Taeyong said, the timbre of his voice lowering to a more serious tone. “You are dying. You will die. Neither of us is really ‘real’. Why do you think no one has taken note of either of us? They can’t see us, we’re in limbo, the state between life and death.”

“No, that’s not true,” Sicheng said, slight tinges of fear creeping into his heart as Taeyong’s words sunk in. No one had so much as looked at them in the time they’d been there. “Hey! Hey, you!” He shouted across the aisle of chairs at a woman reading a magazine. She didn’t so much as flinch, no one did. Fear gripped him tighter as he stood up, moving onto a nurse in scrubs at the counter. “Hey! You can hear me, right?” He asked, waving a hand directly in front of her face. She didn’t look at him, just kept typing as if nothing had happened. 

Sicheng stepped back, hand clutched to his chest. “No, this has to be some cruel joke, it has to. I’m asleep, I’m dreaming. I’m going to wake up in my bed, and everything is going to be okay.” He said to himself. Shaking as he continued to step backward, walking into a solid chest.   
“Sicheng, I’m sorry. This isn’t a dream,” Taeyong said, his breath cold against Sicheng’s ear as he carded his hands through the taller boy’s hair. “This is real. I’m sorry that it is, but it is. You’re dying Sicheng.” He said, arms surprisingly strong as Sicheng collapsed in on him. 

“Then why are you here, why am I here, what’s going on?” He asked, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

“I’m a reaper. I’m here to escort you to the otherworld when you’re ready,” He replied, gently seating Sicheng in one of the waiting room chairs. “We appear when people die or before they die, we help them adjust to what happens to them and help them decide what path to take when the time comes.” 

“I don’t want to be dead,” Sicheng whined pathetically, burying his face in his hands. “I want to see my mom one more time, I want to see Yuta, I want to visit my sister one more time, please I just want to go _home_.” Sicheng sobbed, clutching onto Taeyong’s hand as the reaper interlaced their fingers, reaching his other hand up to wipe the boy’s tears.

“I know,” He responded, his voice calm and steady. “Death isn’t always fair, in fact, it rarely ever is. But for now, just try to breathe, Sicheng. It will be okay.”

“But I’m dead, nothing will be okay again!” He wailed, tugging at his hair. “I’ll never see my friends again, my family will never see me again, I’ll never grow old with the love of my life, I’ll never love, nothing will ever be okay again!”

“Death isn’t always the end, Sicheng.” 

☾✧☽

1:27 am

Yuta had been the first to find out about Sicheng.

The receptionist had seen him listed as Sicheng’s emergency contact on his phone and called him first, and from what Sicheng could gather, Yuta seemed very panicked. 

When he had finally arrived at the hospital, the man looked shaken to his core. His eyes were red and he ran into the waiting room, rushing up to the front desk and immediately asking in a shaky voice. “I’m Yuta Nakamoto, I’m here for Dong Sicheng, I’m his emergency contact, how is he?”

The nurse had pursed her lips, standing up and walking out from behind the desk before leading Yuta to a more quiet corner of the waiting room by the arm. Sicheng didn’t want to watch, Taeyong told him he didn’t have to, but he knew, somehow, he needed to. “Your friend Sicheng,” The nurse began, placing a hand on Yuta’s shoulder. “From what we can gather, he was an unintentional victim of a drive-by shooting. A 911 call from one of the other victims said he was an innocent bystander. As of his condition he’s very unstable. He suffered many gunshot wounds and frankly, he’ll be lucky if he makes it through the night.” She said, maintaining eye contact with Yuta the whole while. 

“No, you’ve got the wrong person,” Yuta said, shaking his head. “Sicheng is at his apartment now, he’s sleeping with his two cats and we’re going to meet tomorrow for coffee and- and-“ He stuttered, tears welling in his eyes.

“I’m sorry Mr. Nakamoto, but his ID was in his pocket. This is, in fact, Dong Sicheng. I suggest you call someone, we’re not sure how long he’ll last.

The hopeless wail Yuta let out was enough to shatter Sicheng’s heart three thousand times over.

☾✧☽

2:45 am

Jaehyun, Doyoung, Taeil, Johnny, Ten, and Mark all arrived later in various levels of distress. Eventually, Sicheng and Taeyong moved to Sicheng’s hospital room, Sicheng opting to stare out the window at the skyline instead of staring at his mangled body.

3:10 am

Sicheng heard his heart monitor begin beeping rapidly, and in what seemed to be only 45 seconds a full team of doctors had poured in, taking all sorts of readings and shouting at each other across his bed. Just as Taeyong had said, one of them said something about hemorrhaging, and one of the doctors swung onto the bed and began CPR. Sometime later, between his own muffled sobs in Taeyong’s black shirt and the reaper’s comforting words, he heard “Time of death, 3:16 am.”

☾✧☽

Dong Sicheng was dead.

He had grown to accept that he, in fact, was dead. At first, it had been painful, the heart-wrenching sobs of his friends triggering day-on-end crying sessions where he didn’t dare move from his bed, where he commonly lay in Taeyong’s arms, sobbing unintelligible things into the man’s chest. He attended his own funeral, cried at Yuta’s eulogy and kissed his best friend’s face one last time before they lowered what one had been Sicheng’s body into the dirt. He cried with his parents and sister, kissing their heads before leaving hand in hand with Taeyong, the two going unnoticed by every guest and human.

After all the furniture had been removed from Sicheng’s apartment he had opted to laying in the nearby botanical center with Taeyong, sitting amongst the flowers while staring at the stars. After a year he saw his friends begin to recover, he saw Yuta and Hansol get engaged, he saw Jaehyun and Doyoung take in his cats and Johnny and Ten grow closer than ever. 

One day, in the garden, while staring at the stars, he turned to Taeyong. “Hyung,” he said, squeezing the reaper’s hand. “What were those options you told me about a while ago, those ones for when you’re ready to move on?” He asked.

“Well Sicheng, there are three. One is you can go to heaven, live in your own tiny paradise forever and be none the wiser. You’ll forget your time with me and your death, you’ll be at peace. You could choose to be a spirit and roam the Earth like us now, or you could be reincarnated as anything you wish. You will remember nothing about your past life, me, or quite frankly anything, but your soul has a chance to live again.” He replied, turning to lock eyes with Sicheng.

“Will I see you again with any of those?” He asked, hope and concern filling his eyes.

“If you go to heaven or become a spirit, no. But if you get reincarnated you will see me again as I will reap you again, but you won’t remember me.” He replied and Sicheng smiled.

“I’ll be reincarnated then.” He replied, nodding his head.

“Into what?” Taeyong asked, squeezing Sicheng’s hand tighter.

“I want to be a dog,” he said, smiling. “A yellow Shiba Inu to be exact.” 

“Can do.”

☾✧☽

Years after Taeyong first reaps Sicheng, and he is reincarnated into a man again, Taeyong reaps Doyoung and Jaehyun, old and married who die of old age together, leaving behind two sons named Jeno and Jisung who give loving eulogies. He reaps Taeil and Johnny, both of whom die from old age as well. He reaps Ten who dies from a seizure and Taeil who dies in a car accident, and prays Mark will not suffer when his time comes. Years later, Sicheng comes to him again as a man named Kun, greeting him with a feather light kiss and a light. “I remembered.”


End file.
